What it means
وان (vân) means “bathtub,” the deep basin you fill with water to sit or lie down in and soak. It is a loanword, borrowed into Persian from Russian ванна (vanna), which itself goes back to German Wanne. To be clear which fixture you mean, people often say the fuller form وان حمام (vân-e hammâm). The useful contrast at home is with دوش (dush), the shower: a دوش is for a quick rinse standing up, while a وان is for a long soak.
How to use it
- خونهی جدیدمون وان داره (khune-ye jadidemun vân dâre) “our new place has a bathtub”
- وان رو پر آب کن (vân ro por-e âb kon) “fill the bathtub with water”
- ترجیح میدم دوش بگیرم تا تو وان دراز بکشم (tarjih midam dush begiram tâ tu vân derâz bekesham) “I’d rather take a shower than lie in the tub”
- بچه رو تو وان حموم میشورم (bache ro tu vân-e hammum mishuram) “I wash the kid in the bathtub”
Cultural note
In most Iranian homes the everyday default is a shower (دوش), and a built-in وان is more often a feature of newer or larger apartments rather than a given in every bathroom. Historically, washing happened at the public bathhouse (حمام), and even today many bathrooms are designed around a floor drain and a hand shower rather than a tub. When a home does have a وان, it tends to be treated as a small luxury for relaxing rather than the standard way people bathe.